Kissed (The Thorn Chronicles) (8 page)

We neared White Trash Alley and she pushed the lock button on the door handle. I wanted to say something smart, like, “my best friend lives there,” and point to the trailer with a jerry rigged second floor. The truth was, however, that I didn’t even know the kids who lived here. My parents wouldn’t let me come anywhere near this place. I’d seen a few kids on the bus but never spoke to them. 

Andrea heaved an audible sigh of relief when the dirt road finally ended at highway 212.

She turned left and followed the twisty road for about five miles, then slowed as she approached Oak Valley Road. I’d never been down to Oak Valley, but I’d heard of its reputation. Rumor had it that the boys of Oak Valley were so fierce that the feds didn’t even dare to bust the meth labs. Obviously, Andrea had not heard the rumors. She turned onto Oak Valley and followed the dirt road for three minutes, then turned down another unmarked dirt road.

Trees crowded the car and eventually the road opened up to a small dusty lot filled with rusty cars and a few old RVs. Beyond the cars sat a tiny trailer with wooden steps. I looked over at Andrea. She had a grim expression.

“Welcome to your new home, Naomi.” She attempted a smile. It didn’t work.

I opened the car door. This was not Ruth’s house.

The front door opened and out stepped Mr. Yerdin.

Most roses run the color wheel from yellow to red. Occasionally a white one pops up. Some of my favorite roses are flowers that have an unusual color. Like purple. The American Rose Society doesn’t even consider purple to be a rose color. They call it mauve. But purple roses do exist. And the most beautiful purple rose is the Vol de Nuit, or the Night Flight.

Andrea didn’t hang out long. She didn’t even come inside the house. When her car disappeared down the road, I fought back tears. I was as good as dead. At least to the outside world.

I followed Mr. Yerdin inside, tugging my suitcase behind me. The stench reached me before I crossed the threshold. A mixture of rotting garbage and feces. I gagged but moved inside anyway.

Boxes piled upon boxes filled the main room. A path through them was visible, but the floor was covered with papers and food. A cockroach scurried across my toe.

“Your room is this way. Don’t knock anything over with your suitcase.” I squeezed down the path, careful not to touch the towers on either side of me. The hallway contained no boxes, but the floor was still not visible. In places, I literally had to climb over trash bags filled with who knows what.

He opened the door to a small room. “We cleared the bed off for you. It will only be for tonight. Tomorrow you’ll be married so you’ll share a room with Dwayne.”

“Will that be after we go to Fayetteville?”

He snorted. “Honey, you’ve seen the last of those social workers. In fact the only people you’ll see from now on are Dwayne and me. He won’t be home until late. His buddies took him out for a bachelor party. If he comes to you though, don’t upset him, he’s a mean drunk and I don’t want that pretty face ruined for the wedding.”

I nodded and waited for him to leave. Then I shoved the door closed and sat on the bed. No way would I stay here. I crawled across the bed to the wide window. I tried to open it. It budged only a little bit. Silently, I pulled up on it. Eventually, it slid open with a loud screech. I froze, but no one came to check on me. In the dark it would be much easier to escape. If Dwayne wasn’t to come home until late, I figured I had four or five hours after it turned dark to make my break. I wanted to wait until Mr. Yerdin went to bed.

I checked out my suitcase. It would only hinder me. I’d have to run with nothing. The only things in my suitcase were clothes. I’d do with what I had. If only my parents had allowed me to wear pants. All of my clothes were impractical for running. They would not be missed.

If my mind served me right, I could take Oak Valley down to Martinville where I could find the Wal-Mart and a bus stop. With any luck I’d be on my way to Vegas by midday.

Darkness fell, but Mr. Yerdin still tromped around the house. I watched under my door for the lights to go out. Just as I decided that perhaps I’d better make a run for it anyway before Dwayne got home, all the lights in the house went out.

I shimmied out the window and landed hard on the ground, jarring my teeth and nearly twisting my ankle. The moonless night made it hard to see anything. I started for the road, figuring that would be the safest route. Before I walked more than a few feet, a car roared down the driveway, its headlights lighting the whole yard. I froze.

Dwayne tumbled out of the passenger door, howling. Then he saw me.

“Naomi, you waited outside for me like a good little bitch.” He lurched toward me.

He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him. The alcohol had improved his breath. His buddies hooted from the car then spun in a tight circle and disappeared down the driveway. Dwayne swayed next to me and leaned heavily on my shoulder.

“Come on,” he slurred. “Let’s go have a honeymoon.”

“We won’t be married until tomorrow.”

“Techni--” He paused, appearing to think. “Technimal....”

I took advantage of his lapse in thought and moved away from him. He stumbled and fell over, landing hard on his butt. “Come here,” he commanded.

I stayed where I was and then edged further away. Hopefully from his position he wouldn’t be able to tell. He propped himself up on all fours and made it back to his feet. He took a winding path toward me and grabbed me by the arm. The flies buzzed in my ears again and I felt like I needed to vomit.

His nostrils flared, his face contorting with anger. My arm began to ache. His eyes closed and he shook his head. After a moment he fell over, unconscious. Without thinking I ran. Down the driveway and out onto the dirt road. Onto the main road I continued to run, for once grateful for the ugly tennis shoes.

Once I hit the highway I had to slow down. I didn’t feel comfortable running on the pavement. It felt too exposed so I kept to the ditch and made slow progress. Every once in a while a car would come through and I would duck to avoid friendly strangers. Eventually, the road leveled out where there was no shelter. On either side of the road hay fields stretched on for miles. My feet ached, but I kept moving.

A slow moving car came up behind me. It stopped, illuminating me with its lights. I didn’t hesitate, I ran.

“Naomi, wait,” a voice called. It wasn’t Dwayne or Mr. Yerdin, but I wasn’t waiting around to see who it was. There was no place to hide. Freshly mowed, the fields left no protection. Sharp stalks of hay scratched at my legs. I ran, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to outrun the stranger.

It didn’t take long before footsteps overcame me. Strong arms wrapped around me and pinned my arms to my side. I thrashed, trying to get away. “Naomi, stop.” My nose twitched. A familiar smell, like clove. He spun me around. “Look at me.”

I looked.

And then kissed Kai full on the lips.

The subconscious can be a funny thing. The idea of escape never really occurred to me until Dwayne, Ruth, and Kai showed up in my life. Yet a whole corner of my garden contains roses with the name of Freedom. Sweet Freedom, Mother Freedom, and five that are simply Freedom. White, yellow, red, orange, and pink.

I couldn’t stop staring at him. He drove along the road without speaking, lost in his own thoughts. I didn’t push him to speak. I just stared at his thick curly hair that was on the longish side but not too much.

I felt safer than I’d felt in years. And happy too. Kai’s car was warm and I nearly fell asleep, the stress of the last few days slipping away.

After a while he spoke. “Where were you planning on going?”

“The bus station.”

“And then where?”

“Las Vegas. I have an aunt there.”

“Vegas is good. You’ll be safe there.”

That was not what I wanted to hear. Now that I was with Kai, I didn’t have any reason to go to Las Vegas.

“What about you?” I asked.

“I need to stay here. My mission is not finished. But I’ll come find you when I’m done.”

“Vegas is big, how will you find me?”

“I found you tonight, didn’t I? Although I will admit that that was an accident. I was on my way to your house when I saw you walking in the field. You should have told me you were going to run away. I could have helped.”

“How was I supposed to do that? You put me in a magic sleep every time you come.”

He sighed. “I know, but I left you notes. You could’ve done the same. And there was always school.”

I snorted. “Notes were out of the question. Mother could have found them. And I didn’t know who you were at school, remember?”

“Sure you did. I bought you breakfast and I punched Dwayne for you.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that was you.”

He shrugged. “You still could’ve asked me to help.”

The bus stop in Martinville was inside a gas station. It was small, empty and dark. When we checked the schedule we discovered that the first bus wouldn’t depart until seven am. Which was fine by me. All I wanted to do was stay with Kai.

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

I thought about it for a moment and realized that I couldn’t even remember the last time I ate something. I’d always been good at suppressing hunger.

“Yeah. I am.”

He held my hand as he drove down the empty streets. About ten minutes later he pulled into the parking lot of a Denny’s. It’d been eight years since I’d eaten at a real restaurant. A few years ago, mother stopped at McDonalds on the way home from Wal-Mart, but she’d only let me get french fries.

When I got out of the car, I found him right next to me. He gathered me up in a hug and held tight. I took in his clove musky smell and wondered where the music was coming from. His body was warm and comforting. When he pulled away he kissed me lightly on the lips and I shivered.

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, his thick eyebrows creasing.

“Then I won’t. I can stay here with you.”

He smiled a sad smile. “I wish you could, but you have to go to Vegas. I promise I’ll come find you.”

He led me into the empty restaurant and waited for me to slide into a booth. I expected him to sit across from me, but he followed me into my side of the booth. He put his arm around me and I snuggled close to him. My eyes threatened to close.

“No,” he whispered in my ear. “I want you awake. I like you better this way.”

My insides turned to jelly and I couldn’t help my smile.

The waitress didn’t even look at us when she dropped the menus on the table.

Kai looked at his and handed me mine.

“What looks good?” he asked.

I shrugged. I didn’t really care. “I’ll just have whatever your having.”

The waitress came back and sighed. Kai ordered two Grand Slams and coffee.

“How’d you end up on the side of the road?” he asked.

I told him most of the story.

“Why can’t you come with me?” I asked.

“Because I have to finish my job here.” He kissed my temple. “But I want to go with you. I’m trying to figure out how, or how to keep you hidden here while I finish up. But that’s impossible. It’s not safe for you here.”

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

His evasiveness was annoying. “Well can you at least tell me where you are from?”

“California. Before I moved here and became a certified farm boy, I surfed every morning and worked odd jobs after school. I think I miss the ocean more than anything.”

“I’ve never seen the ocean.”

“Well then, we have something to look forward to. When I come get you in Vegas we’ll drive straight out to the beach and I’ll teach you to surf.”

“That sounds nice. Tell me more. What about your family?” I wanted him to talk forever, to tell me every detail of his life.

“I don’t really know my family. My father died when I was eight. Shortly after that, my mother dropped me and my little brother off with the Guardians.”

“What’s a Guardian?” I asked, confused.

“It’s what I am. We are protectors of a sort.”

I thought about that. It didn’t explain a whole lot and I thought about asking more questions, but then the waitress brought us our food. There was no way in Hades that I would be able to eat it all. I attacked the bacon first, since father had been so possessive with meat in our house, I didn’t get it very often.

Kai poured ketchup all over his potatoes and we ate in silence for a few minutes.

After a few minutes Kai’s head jerked to the door.

“Oh shit. Get under the table. Now.”

I didn’t hesitate. I had no reason to. I trusted Kai with every fiber of my being. The floor was sticky and I sat close Kai’s legs.

“Kai, what are you doing here at this hour?” A deep voice asked.

“How are you doing, Mr. Yerdin? I was working and got hungry.”

My stomach dropped and I started to shake. How on earth would we get away? I couldn’t believe Mr. Yerdin found us. Or that he was even looking.

Two more legs appeared under the table and Mr. Yerdin sat down across from Kai. I scooted as close to Kai as I could get. He rested his hand on my head.

“What’s the job tonight?” Mr. Yerdin asked.

“You know I can’t tell you that.”

“Yes, well Dwayne’s bride got away from him. I’m looking for the girl, blond, a little shorter than you. You understand that it’s crucial I find her. Very few places are open at this hour and she can’t have gone too far.”

“I’ll keep my eyes open sir, but I haven’t seen anyone like that.”

The waitress’s dirty tennis shoes appeared in front of me. “Can I get you anything?” she asked.

“No, I’m not staying, but I’m looking for a blond girl. Have you seen any of those tonight?”

“The only blond I’ve seen in here tonight is the one with him and she looked hashed.”

Kai stiffened.

“With you, Son?” Mr. Yerdin asked as the waitress moved away.

“Yeah, I met a girl this afternoon. Hot. And, well, I should be working, but I got distracted. You won’t tell, will you?”